International Master Daniel Naroditsky has won the Neil Falconer Award for the third year in a row. The 17-year-old resident of Foster City wins $2553, equal to his United States Chess Federation rating this past December. This is the highest rating ever attained in the 14 year history of the Falconer, which is awarded annually to the top player under 18 in Northern California.

The competition this year was particularly tough, as Daniel was challenged by 15-year-old Yian Liou of Walnut Creek and World under 12 Champion Samuel Sevian of Santa Clara, who are both rated over 2450 USCF. All three youngsters played this season on the Mechanics’ Institute team in the US Chess League.

Mr. Falconer, a strong player who won the California Open in 1951, established this award with the aim of promoting excellence among young Northern California players, and has succeeded beyond his wildest dreams, with two winners (Bhat and Shankland) now holding the Grandmaster title and two more (Zierk and Naroditsky) the International Master title.

Neil Falconer will be on hand to honor Daniel’s accomplishment on Tuesday, January 15, at 5:30 pm. Besides the check presentation, Daniel will also give a short talk on his new book, Mastering Complex Endgames, which was recently published by New in Chess.

an IM norm, achieved by Samuel Sevian, who thereby completed all his IM norm requirements, making him IM-elect. He also tied for first in the event with a strong performance of 6.0/9.0, narrowly missing the GM norm by half a point.

The McKinley Williams / John Easterling 2nd Annual Community Chess Tournament was a tremendous success, attracting 32 chess players, their families and friends to a day of chess at the Richmond Recreation Department on Macdonald Avenue. Once again the tournament was to honor retiring Contra Costa College President McKinley Williams and the late John Easterling’s contributions to chess in Richmond and West County. Mr. Williams and the wife of John Easterling were both presented tournament T-shirts. The tournament was made possible by the sponsorship of the City of Richmond Parks and Recreation Department, Contra Costa College, and the West Coast Chess Alliance.

The tournament format was a Quad, with 4 players per table, playing 3 games (a round robin) to determine a Quad winner. Each Quad winner received a trophy. The tournament was unique and maybe the first of its kind in the Bay Area because it featuring both rated and non-rated sections, and included scholastic sections or Quads. Hence the term Community Chess Tournament: non-rated or causal chess players rarely get an opportunity to compete in tournaments. We attracted players from Richmond, each west county city, El Cerrito, Albany, Oakland, Berkeley, Vallejo, and as far as Suisun. Students from Ford, Albany Middle School, Marin Elementary, Wagner Ranch, St. Cornelius and Valley View Elementary Schools participated in the tournament. There was also a group of chess players from Richmond and San Pablo Senior Centers.

The tournament was really diverse in every demographic: age, race, sex, rated/non-rated chess players. The age range was 6 to 79 years old, and there were several young girls playing in the tournament. The first board had an average chess rating over 1900, which is A-level of playing strengths by United States Chess Federation standards.

We, West Coast Chess Alliance, are truly honored to be part of this chess event; it was a first-class chess tournament. The chess sets were set up on the tables; when player arrived, we served coffee for Cathoula Coffee and light refreshments, catered by CCC Culinary Department.

The City of Richmond has generated a lot of good will in the chess community. I overheard participants saying “wow” when they came into the tournament hall. The main feedback I received from chess players and parents was “when will there be another tournament in Richmond”.

As lead tournament Director, I want to thank the city of Richmond, the Parks and Recreation Department, Contra Costa College and West Coast Chess Alliance tournament directing team (Will Delaney and Gerl Jenkins). I would also like to acknowledge Jerry Anderson and Johann Frazier for their input. I want to give a special thanks to Troy Porter, for his creative ideas that really increased the production and promotional valve of the tournament. Also Eric Yee, for the photos and videotaping the events; this documentation will be valuable for future tournaments.

The 22nd North American Open took place in Las Vegas between the 26th and the 30th of December 2012. Grandmaster Timur Gareev had a fantastic tournament, scoring 8 points in 9 games and earning nearly $10,000.

Mechanics’ Member

Yian Liou had an outstanding tournament. The 15-year-old made his second IM norm in 2012 and raised his USCF rating to 2469. His score of 6½ from 9 included a win against IM Yankovsky, and draws with GMs Shabalov, Lenderman and Gurevich and IM Krush.